Lecture on Sunday 28 October 2018 (18 Safar 1440) by Brother Bashier Rahim at the Ahlul Bait (a.s) Masjid, Ottery, Cape Town in the Arba-een series on the theme "SURVIVAL OF THE MESSAGE".

From the very first day that the human being was created, he has been invested with the power of freewill which is a power that will be part of his nature until the end of his life and as long as human beings live in this world.

Human beings have one existence, but inside this one existence they are faced with 2 worlds - an external world which is the material world that we are familiar with through our senses, and an internal world.

This internal world is a reality that we don't spend sufficient time on contemplating about as we tend to spend most of our energy on the life of our external world that we face as it is easier to see and contemplate.

But the internal world which is a reality inside us has various levels, some scholars have summarised it into 2 major levels in their analysis - the first being our intellectual powers which attract us to being pious and achieving the purpose of our life.

The other powers in our internal world are satanic powers which attract us to our lowest desires which take us far away from the purpose of our life and can cause us to move towards total destruction.

This battle is a never ending one that occurs inside our very existence all the time. Sometimes the intellect gains control over our desires and that's the best position to be in, but our desires also can make a comeback and regain control over our intellect and that is an unfavorable position to be in.

And among our many desires, one of our desires that can lead to catastrophic consequences if we do not control it is the desire for power.

We see it in Karbala from the illegitimate Caliph Yazeed what the uncontrolled desire for power caused him to do, and we see it in his governor Ubaydullah ibn Ziyaad, and we see it in the leader of his army Umar ibn Sa'd. All had an insatiable desire for power.

And before them was the first king of the Umayyads and in the history of Islam - Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.

And after them the same can be said about most of the remaining Umayyads including the butcher Hajjaj bin Yusuf.

And after them despotic rulers from the Abbasid dynasty.

And in history of mankind, this insatiable desire for power was there among certain people from the very beginning - which resulted in catastrophic consequences.

STORY OF THE SONS OF PROPHET ADAM (A.S)

So this problem of lust for power goes right back to the start of creation of the human being when there was hardly probably 4 people or slightly more living on this huge earth. Just 4 people - and there was an uncontrolled lust for power.

In Surah Maa-idah, we read about the very interesting story of the 2 sons of Prophet Adam (a.s) bearing in mind that Prophet Adam (a.s) is introduced in another part of the Quran as the Khalifatullah or Representative of Allah on earth.

Now from verses 27 onwards we read the story of the 2 sons of Prophet Adam (a.s).

"(O' Prophet!) Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam when they each offered a sacrifice, that it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other, (The one) said: 'I shall certainly kill you,' (The other) said: 'verily Allah accepts only from the God conscious ones." (Verse 27)

"If you stretch out your hand toward me to kill me, I am not one to stretch out my hand toward you to kill you. Verily, I fear Allah, the Lord of the Worlds." (Verse 28)

This story at it's very basic level is something we already teach in level 1 of our madressa syllabus. However it has more delicate points to consider.

Prophet Adam (a.s) had many sons but 2 of his sons - Habil and Qabil are the subject of this Quranic story. The story is introduced as:

"Recite to them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam".

This opening verse already gives us a hint that in relation to this story, there was various fables in circulation. And the same can be said about subsequent narrations of the additional details regarding this story that is not in the Quran - lots of that information regarding this story is not reliable.

In Tafsir al-Mizan, Allamah Tabatabai makes reference to some of these strange narrations regarding the background and context of this story. And Allah knows best.

There is for example narrations that state that Prophet Adam (a.s) and Lady Hawwa (a.s) had twins - a male and female at a time. In other words every time she conceived, it ended up being twins in the form of a boy and a girl.

Then since they were the first generation of offspring of the human race, Prophet Adam (a.s) let the first born male, who was Qabil, - he let him marry the girl from the second batch of twins. And then Prophet Adam (a.s) let second born male called Habil - he let him marry the girl from the first batch of twins.

Then this narration states that Habil's wife from the first batch of twins was good looking and Qabil's wife from the second batch of twins was not good looking, so Qabil got jealous and complained as he wanted the beautiful wife for himself. In other words Qabil wanted to rather marry his twin sister instead of his sister from the second batch of twins.

So the narration goes on to say that Prophet Adam (a.s), in an attempt to solve the discontent that Qabil felt in the situation, he said they should both offer a sacrifice and the one whose sacrifice was accepted would marry the beautiful girl.

So Qabil's sacrifice was not accepted, and he thus did not get to marry his beautiful twin sister - so he killed his brother out of sheer jealousy. However, this narration of a love story gone wrong which resulted in the first murder on this earth is not considered authentic.

So what was the real source of the jealousy that Qabil had for Habil? In terms of an authentic narration from Imam Jaafar Saadiq (a.s), we learn that even though Qabil was the older brother, Prophet Adam (a.s) appointed Habil as his successor and Habil, by instruction of Almighty Allah, would be the next Prophet.

Qabil took exception to this appointment, just like Iblis took exception to the appointment of his father Prophet Adam (a.s) as the Khalifatullah and Iblis did not bow to him out of protest.

So under Divine instruction, Prophet Adam (a.s) instructed his 2 sons to make a sacrifice to Almighty Allah - and unbeknown to Qabil, this sacrifice was going to reveal something about both of their personalities.

So they made their sacrifice and the sacrifice of Habil was accepted while the sacrifice of Qabil was not accepted and thus Habil was confirmed to be the successor of Prophet Adam (a.s) and to be the Prophet after him.

QUALITIES OF QABIL AND HABIL REVEALED

Now there are some beautiful observations of this story from the Quranic verses and the ahadith, some of which are covered by Allamah Tabatabai which I will share a little with you.

We understand from the narrations that Habil was a shepherd by profession and he offered his best lamb as the sacrificial animal. But, Qabil who was a farmer brought the worst part of his agricultural product to sacrifice.

So when Qabil's sacrifice was not accepted, he looks confused regarding why his sacrifice was not accepted. This supposed confusion is a reflection that he thought that Allah does not know what is going on in his heart as Allah might get confused like human beings get confused and would not know that he brought his worst possession.

And if he knew that Allah knows what is in his heart, then he was too arrogant to expect that any pathetic sacrifice should be accepted.

So his lust for power to be the successor became so bad such that he uttered his intention in a fit of rage saying to Habil:

"I will certainly kill you".

That's rather aggressive hate speech, isn't it?

Habil in return tries to educate Qabil regarding two things:

- firstly that he had nothing to do with his appointment as successor, and

- secondly the reason why the sacrifice of Qabil was not accepted was because

"verily Allah only accepts from the God conscious ones".

Don't we see in the Quran how Almighty Allah praises the quality of the sacrifice of the Ahlul Bait (a.s)? When they have virtually nothing, they give it to the poor and orphan and prisoner in love of Allah and expecting no thanks or reward in return?

Habil then says something interesting. He says if you initiate to kill me, I will certainly not be the one to initiate killing you. Isn't this the message of Imam Husayn (a.s) on the day of Ashura when the first arrow was fired by the army of Umar ibn Sa'd where Imam Husayn (a.s) he said let history be our witness that we did not fire the first arrow.

Qabil is a person that has no boundaries and does not care at all and will do as he pleases, but Habil does care and says he can't just do as he pleases eventhough he has freewill....why is Habil restricted from doing as he pleases? He himself says to Qabil:

"Verily, I fear Allah, the Lord of the Worlds" - Habil's every action is governed by justice as he is fully aware of his accountability to Allah.

Now just from this first bit so far we get an idea of the personalities of these 2 characters:

- one who lusts for power but has no marifat or knowledge of Allah and this person is Qabil who does not even know that Allah knows what is inside his heart

- the other person does not desire power but is bestowed with the office of Prophethood due to his marifat or knowledge of Allah. How do we know Habil had marifat of Allah? It is because he says:

"Verily, I fear Allah, the Lord of the Worlds".

And we know from another place in the Quran in Surah Fatir Verse 28:

"verily only those of His servants fear Allah who have knowledge". The only ones who really fear Allah are the ulama or people of knowledge. So Habil's core attribute was his marifat or deep inner knowledge of Allah that made him qualify for successorship to Prophet Adam (a.s).

SPIRITUAL IMPACT OF COMMITTING MURDER

Now at this point in the Quranic story, no murder was yet created. Then in verse 29 we read further what Habil says to Qabil in trying to further teach him the impact of his intended actions, and please pay close attention to this:

"Verily I desire that you should bear my sin and your (own) sin, and so you would be of the inmates of the (Hell) Fire, and this is the reward of the unjust."

Some people misunderstood this verse when it is read with the previous verse to think that Habil was timid and just acted lame and was saying go ahead and kill me as he would not extend his hand to kill Qabil.

And then in this verse he desires that Qabil should bear the supposed sins of Habil and this will only be achieved if Habil allows Qabil to kill him, in other words Habil committing a sort of suicide which is a major sin which Qabil would carry besides Qabil's own sin of killing Habil.

This is a misunderstanding. The verse does not say that Habil won't defend himself, it simply says that he will not start the fight. And then in this verse he is trying to persuade Qabil why he should not commit such a heinous crime as it has a serious impact.

What is that impact?

- firstly it is punishment/retribution for the crime of murder which itself is extremely serious. It's truly amazing how murderers simply brush it aside as if it's nothing.... the punishment is actually extremely serious.

- secondly we also learn from verse 32 which concludes this story that the taking of ANY innocent soul is tantamount in spiritual terms to killing the ENTIRE human race.

"whoever slays a human being for other than murder or mischief in the earth, it is as if he had murdered the whole of mankind".

- and then thirdly Habil is trying to teach Qabil the impact of his sins through explaining to him a reality he definitely did not know....and this is a point we might not know either. And what is that?

Allamah Tabatabai indicates that the context of this verse

"Verily I desire that you should bear my sin and your (own) sin" - this verse denotes that "the sins of the one who is unjustly murdered will be transferred to his killer - that is he will bear two sins while the victim will come to Allah without any sin to his account".

And do we really understand this? There is a general rule that on the day of Judgement no person will be answerable for the actions of another person. But there's an exception to this rule that a murderer is not just responsible for the act of murder, or the reality that it's like killing the entire humanity - he also carries all the sins on his own shoulders of the murdered victim.

On the Day of Ashura Imam Husayn (a.s) tried one last time to explain the impact of their actions to his murderers, but they would not listen.

And in South Africa we suffer from violent crime and our statistics make us equal to any other war torn country in the world where the number of people who die from violent crime each day is the same like being in a state of war.

Right here in Phillipi and Crossroads from our very small community, how many people are continuously innocently murdered. Do they even know that they are answerable for the actions of their innocent victims just because they felt like being trigger happy?

In the Middle East and all its wars, how do these rulers think they will face Allah on the day of Judgement and be answerable for the actions of millions of their victims?

THE GRAND COVER UP

The lessons from the story of Qabil and Habil don't end there - and we thus continue.

So after all of this guidance and admonishment from Habil, we read in verse 30:

"Then his soul (through temptation of envy) facilitated to him the murder of his brother. So he murdered him, and thus became one of the losers."

In other words after facing 2 options, now the battle in the internal world of Qabil was at its peak - must I kill him, must I not kill him? It was not an immediate decision. That's why the verse says:

"his soul facilitated to him the murder of his brother".... in other words it gradually gradually pushed him and pushed him until he committed the ultimate act which then left him to be a loser.

What was the purpose of this murder? To prevent Habil from becoming the successor. Maybe he achieved that. But what did he achieve for himself? Did Qabil become successor? Or did Qabil achieve eternal hell for himself?

Now that the act was committed, and the dust had settled, now there is a new issue that the murderer has to contend with...the issue of what to do with the dead body and how to cover up their crime.

Qabil was completely baffled now that he had a dead body in front of him and the context of the verses shows that he was in this state of being stunned for quite a while.

In verse 31 we read:

"Then Allah sent a raven/crow digging up the ground to show him (the murderer) how he should cover the dead body of his brother. He said: 'Woe unto me! Am I unable to be like this raven and cover the corpse of my brother?' So he became one of the remorseful."

Of the different type of birds, the crow was important in this context because other birds usually dig into the sand in search of seeds it can eat, but the crow digs a hole in the ground and then buries some of its prey in there which it later comes to fetch.

So Qabil was watching this crow dig a hole and still did not understand the purpose of what it was doing until he saw the crow bury something and cover it up. And even at this point it did not make immediate sense to him.

Only after some reflection, then did he realise and get the idea of burying the dead body of Habil so he could cover up his heinous crime.

And when he saw the crow doing it's burying and realised only afterwards that he could do the same, he came to realise his extreme weakness and lack of basic knowledge in that he could not even do what a small bird could do - yet this murder he committed was due to his lust for power to be the successor of Prophet Adam (a.s).

So he became sad for his own situation and took pity upon himself but it was too late. After Ashura when Umar ibn Sa'd did not get the governorship he was desiring he took pity on himself and wondered in the streets like a mad man.

After killing the 72 sacred souls on Ashura, it is like they did not know what to do with these bodies and simply dumped it there laying under the burning sun for 3 days before burial occurred.

Qabil wanted to hide his crime but it was soon uncovered by Prophet Adam (a.s).

And throughout history there were continued attempts to cover up and hide the crimes of the Umayyads to the extent that some extremists even caution you not to speak against Yazeed as there are some manufactured cover up narrations that speak about how pious he was!

And we see their spiritual children who control the Haramain struggling with the cover up of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi 2 weeks ago.

How many pathetic cover ups have the Saudi regime done over the years?

When they martyred Ayatullah Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, they publish his execution with a list of criminals and terrorists to make people think he was just another criminal.

When they kill and cause the death of thousands of Hujjaj mainly from Iran, they announce that people should accept the Will of Allah.

In Yemen, we have one of the worst humanitarian disasters and all they could say is that they fighting a war of Aqeedah and that justified their action.

Murderers are known for pathetic cover ups.

SURVIVAL OF THE MESSAGE

Prophet Adam (a.s) mourned for Habil for 40 days and some narrations even state for hundreds of years afterwards. Why so much mourning and crying?

Let's listen to an interesting view that was expressed in our recent ziyarah trip. When we were in Karbala, and may Almighty Allah grant you all the opportunity to go there, we performed jumuah there which was led by Sheikh Abdul Mahdi Karbala'i who is the official representative of Ayatullah Sistani in Karbala. He spoke about the virtue of mourning for Imam Husayn (a.s) and then made reference to various Ahadith and the incident of Prophet Yusuf (a.s).

Due to the same spiritual sickness of jealousy, his brothers got rid of him and he was separated from his beloved father Prophet Yakoob (a.s).

Though Prophet Yusuf (a.s) was still alive, this separation for over 40 years was unbearable for him and caused him to cry so much that he became blind.

This is how we traditionally understand that incident - the separation from Prophet Yusuf (a.s) made Prophet Yakoob (a.s) cry so much.

But Sheikh Mehdi Karbala'i gives another perspective in that he says Prophet Yusuf (a.s) was a representative of Allah on earth, and it is the oppression that was done to the Khalifatullah that caused Prophet Yakoob (a.s) to cry for so many years until he became blind.... it's not because he was missing his biological son.

And so we see that with all the covering up, Lady Zainab (a.s) makes an eternal promise to Yazeed:

"Then you may lay whatever traps you have, and take whatever steps you desire, and endeavour as much as you want. By Allah! You shall never be able to wipe out our remembrance nor remove our inspiration from the people, nor will you be able to wipe off the disgrace of this episode".

The 11th Imam Hassan al-Askari (a.s) gives us 5 indicators to measure the level of our faith. A believer is one who:

- wears a ring on his right hand like Aqiq

During Battle of Siffin Amr ibn al-Aas set a trend by putting his ring on his left hand and falsely claimed that Imam Ali (a.s) was not the Imam and the Caliph. The Umayyids made it a symbol of remembering that incident by wearing rings on their left hands. Thus, wearing the ring in the right hand goes beyond blessings and rewards. It has become a symbol of following Imam Ali (a.s)

- recites the Basmallah loud in the salaah

Imam Ali (a.s) ties the Basmala to himself when he says: “Know that all the secrets in the Divine Books are in the Qur’an. All that is in the Qur’an is in al-Fatiha. All that is in al-Fatiha is in the Basmala. All that is in the Basmala is in the ‘Baa’ [of ‘Bism’]. All that is in the ‘Baa’ is in the dot under the ‘Baa’. And I am the dot under the ‘Baa’.”

- they pray 51 rakaats of salaah daily.

That is the 17 rakaats of wajib prayers 5 times a day plus the 34 rakaats in total of mustajab prayers.

Qabil and all the oppressors had an insatiable appetite for power but did not realise that the road to real power is through a close connection to the source of power which is Almighty Allah.

And the beautiful narration of Qurbun Nawafil states that "None of My servants can seek closeness to me by that which is dearer to Me than things that I have made obligatory on him (i.e. that is wajibat). Then, with the performance of nawafil (the recommended acts), he continuously attains closeness/proximity to Me so that I love him. When I love him, I will be the ear with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees, and the hand with which he strikes. If he calls Me, I will answer his call, and if he makes a request, I will grant it."

- they perform sajda on soil/earth

When the person puts their head on soil, they are in a position of humility before Allah and this reminds him of the beginning and end of life as we will be buried in that same soil one day soon.

But the significance of prostration goes even further when this soil upon which we perform prostration comes from Karbala, then the prostration on it takes the believer to a much higher level. It becomes a form of remembering the tragedy of Karbala. It serves as a reminder of how Imam Hussain was left on the blazing desert sands of Karbala for three days.

- and the fifth sign of a believer in terms of the list of Imam Hassan al-Askari (a.s) is that a believer does the ziyarah of Arba-een of Imam Husayn (a.s).

The 20th of Safar is the day Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) visited Imam Hussain – he was the first Zaa-ir. It is also the day that the caravan of the Ahlul Bayt returned to Karbala from Damascus. And we all want to be part of that caravan. The 20th of Safar was emphasized by the Ahlul Bayt due to the tragedy of “returning to Karbala” after the massacre. Visiting Imam Hussain on Arba’een follows in the footsteps of Lady Zainab and Imam Sajjad (a.s).

And while the movement to cover up the massacre of the Ahlul Bait (a.s) was very strong, Arba-een is the movement for the survival of the message of Karbala.

And just as Almighty Allah kept the message of Habil alive, so Almighty Allah has ensured that there is a system in place to keep the message of Imam Husayn (a.s).

The narrations about the virtues of going to Karbala for ziyarah are too numerous and can come across as extreme to the uneducated. But if killing a normal innocent person is equivalent to killing the entire humanity, what about killing the apple of the eye of the Messenger (sawa)?

Ibn Qulaway who was a teacher of Sheikh Mufeed who are among the classical scholars in the School of Ahlul Bait (a.s), he has recorded at least 500 narrations about the virtues of making Ziyarah of Imam Husayn (a.s) in Karbala. And when you sit in the shrine you see various of these narrations that are draped against the walls.

Sometimes its mentioned that Ziyarah of Imam Husayn (a.s) brings the reward of:

- performing Hajj, or

- performing Umra, or

- performing 1000 Hajj and Umra, or

- the Hajj and Umra of Prophet (sawa) himself, etc

And how often should Ziyarah be performed?

- for those living nearby at least once a month

- for the poor at least once a year

- for the wealthy at least twice a year

- other narrations state don't leave it for more than 4 years

Thus you see during these days how tens of millions are walking to Karbala with one voice of Labbayka Yaa Husayn.

There should not be a day in the life of a believer where he does not remember Imam Husayn (a.s) at least for a few moments.

Why? Because even our salaah through which we are meant to get closer to Almighty Allah is not as effective as it should be as our hearts are too hardened by our pursuit of our external worldly life. We are in desperate need of a means to break away from this material world to soften our hearts to get closer to Almighty Allah. And when we take a moment everyday to remember something about Karbala, it softens our heart to be more receptive in Salaah.

If you take a book like Nafasul Mahmum of Sheikh Abbas Qummi which is over 500 pages and just read one or two pages slowly each day, you will have a way to connect to some aspect of Karbala each and every day and keep your heart soft and receptive. Keeping the message of Karbala alive keeps us close to our Creator.

REMEMBERING THE TRAGEDY OF KARBALA

Brothers and sisters, if you have not gone, then you really have to go to Karbala. It's an expensive trip for most of us, but you really have to go. What you gain spiritually cannot be paid for in money. And if we feel it's too much money, what about the Ahlul Bait (a.s) who gave everything? EVERYTHING! The least we can do is retrace their footsteps and stand at their grave and say:

"Peace be on you, O Abu Abdullah, and on those souls who came to your camp to put themselves at your disposal.

So far I am alive and the days and nights follow each other I invoke Allah to send blessings on you for ever and ever.

May Allah not make my this pledge of close association, physical as well as spiritual, with you the last fulfillment.

Peace be on Husayn, and on Ali son of Husayn, and on the children of Husayn, and on the friends of Husayn.

If only we were with you so that we could share the great accomplishment with you."

Arba-een is on the 20th of Safar

But where did this whole journey start? It started after the 28 Rajab when Muawiyya died and there was a demand for the pledge of allegiance for Yazeed.

Then they changed direction when they were prevented to go to Kufa and Muslim ibn Aqeel and Hani ibn Urwa were martyred and their bodies were dragged in the streets of Kufa to strike fear in the hearts of the people.

Imam Husayn (a.s) and his family and followers ended up in Karbala.

The Day of Ashura came and the tragedy occurred that was never seen before in history.

The skies rained blood and the Angels and universe mourned for Imam Husayn (a.s).

But it did not end there.

On the night of Shame Ghariban a second chapter of the tragedy started.

Tents of women and children was set on fire.

What a scene it was for Zainab (a.s)....running from tent to tent trying to save lives.

Yet in all that tragedy Zainab (a.s) still performed salaat of Tahajjud....but she could not stand due to exhaustion and performed Tahajjud in a sitting position.

Imam Husayn (a.s) loved his sister so much and had so much faith in her spirituality such that in his final message to her said Oh Zainab don't forget to pray for me in your Tahajjud.

The tragedy continued.

The tents were looted and robbed.

Veils of the women were ripped off.

Jewelry was snatched and ripped off from their ears.

They were tied with chains and taken as prisoners of war.

They were rushed to Kufa and humiliated.

If anyone could not keep up or fell off from the camels they were left behind to die.

In Syria in Damascus they were humiliated as prisoners of war.

There are so many incidents in Damascus that break your heart.

Shaikh Mufeed relates from Sayyidah Fatemah bintul Husayn (a.s.), that when we were seated in the presence of Yazeed, he felt sorry for our state.

So a red-faced man from among the Syrians arose and said, “O Commander of the faithful (Allah’s refuge)! Present this girl to me”, and by this he meant me. I trembled and presumed that this was easy for them. I clung to the lap of my aunt Zainab (a.s.) who knew that this could never happen. My aunt told the Syrian,

“By Allah! You lie! And you revealed your mean nature. You nor he has any authority to do so”.

Yazeed was enraged and said, “It is you who lie! By Allah! I do have the right to do so”.

The Syrian man repeated his request to present him the girl, and Yazeed shouted, “Get away! May Allah kill you”.

The Syrian man then asked, “Whose daughter is she?” and Yazeed replied, “She is Fatemah, the daughter of Husayn, while she is Zainab, the daughter of Ali”.

The Syrian asked, “Husayn, the son of Fatemah and Ali bin Abi Talib?” and Yazeed replied "yes".

Hearing this, the Syrian said, “May Allah’s curse be upon you O Yazeed! You kill the progeny of the Prophet and arrest his family? I presumed them to be Roman captives”. Yazeed said, “I shall dispatch you to them”, saying this he ordered him to beheaded.

Just imagine how humiliating it was for the Ahlul Bait (a.s) that people behaved and spoke about them like this just because they were ignorant of who they were!

The narrations state that during this time more and more incidents were happening in Damascus that made Yazeed uncomfortable.

It is narrated that the Ahlul Bait (a.s) had concealed from the children regarding the martyrdom of their fathers. They told them that their fathers had been on a journey, until Yazeed called them to his house.

A four-year-old daughter of Imam Husayn(a.s.) one day awoke from her dream saying,

“Where has my father been? Just now I saw him in a dream that he was uneasy and distressed”.

Hearing this, the women as well as the other children started crying, while the voices of their crying got louder and louder.

Yazeed arose from his sleep and asked, “What has happened?” They found out the matter and informed him Husayn's daughter is missing him.

Yazeed ordered that the head of her father (Imam Husayn) be sent for her. The head was brought on a tray. The girl asked,

“What is this?”

and they answered, “It is the head of your father”. Hearing this, the child was shocked and started screaming and died in the prisons of Damascus.

It is also narrated that the wife of Yazeed who was a good person, she had a dream that shocked her.

She saw Angels and Holy people sending salaams to the head of Imam Husayn".

When she woke up she saw a bright light coming from the face of Imam Husayn (a.s). She narrated this story to Yazeed who bowed his head in shame. And after this, the next chapter in the tragic journey started.

When morning came, Yazeed called for the family of Imam Husayn (a.s.) and said, “Do you desire to remain with me or to back go to Madinah?”

They replied,

“Initially we desire to weep and mourn upon Imam Husayn (a.s.)”. Just allow us to do that first.

He replied, “You may do as you desire”.

Then some houses were vacated for them and the women of Bani Hashim and Quraysh wore black clothes and mourned upon Imam Husayn (a.s.) for seven days.

On the eighth day Yazeed called them and offered them to stay back in Damascus, but they declined saying,

“Send us to the ‘place of Migration’ (Madinah) of our grandfather”.

The time had come to go back to Madina. But they wanted to first go to Karbala one more time for Ziyarah. One more time they wanted to relive the tragedy of Imam Husayn (a.s)!

Everyone wants to recall the tragedy of Imam Husayn (a.s) but we don't have the words to express ourselves.